Of Men and Birds
by ddandelionss
Summary: "A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream til the current ends and dips his wings in the orange suns rays and dares to claim the sky... But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing." -Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
1. Prologue

Not my first story ever written, however, first thing I've written in almost… three years? That sounds about right. So, be easy on me. I don't own anything except my own original ideas, which should be fairly obvious. Happy reading!

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**Of Men and Birds**

~Prologue~

* * *

"Edward?" Her eyes were closed and her voice was only a whisper on the breeze.

"Yes?"

"Where do you think we go when we die?" I opened my eyes, just a tad, to see what she was doing; to see what might've brought about this thought. The sun was bright, we were lying with our backs in the grass and arms stretched out wide. Not a cloud in the sky and the breeze was gentle. The leaves in the tree branch above our heads rustled a tad, a blue bird was in its nest with its hatchlings. They were preparing to take their first flight into the world. I turned my head over slightly to look at the girl beside me. She was staring at the birds.

Before that moment, I wouldn't have even acknowledged the question. I didn't believe in life after death or reincarnation or that we go to some great big place in the sky. I believed wholly in science and logic. None of that is logical. But lying there in that calm and quiet place, I didn't know if I could've told her that when we die that's it. I didn't think I could tell her that we just cease in existence, get buried and rot. I knew she'd want more than that. What could I have possibly said to her to not ruin that moment?

"I don't really know." That was all I could think of.

"You're lying, but okay." Her gaze was still set on the blue birds and a slight smile crept across her lips. Her smile made me smile.

"Well, what do you think happens?"

She took a long, deep breath. "Well, I think, we all become free." She turned her head to face me suddenly and whispered with pale pink lips, "Like birds." All I could do was smile and look back to the sky. The leaves rustled again.

"Edward, look." A pale finger pointed straight to the baby birds. "It's ready." I redirected my gaze and sure enough, a tiny little blue bird, mother at side, sat at the edge of its nest and prepared itself briefly before taking flight. The mother bird chirped after it as it soared off into the distance. "One day, I hope to be a bird."That caught my interest a tad.

"Why a bird? They're not all that special. If, when we die, we're reincarnated into animals I think I'd much rather prefer a lion or something." Her brows furrowed and she huffed a bit but then seemed to consider it.

"I suppose a lion would suit you. Fiery, strong, protective," My smile widened, I was always a sucker for flattery. "Full of pride." My puffed up chest seemed to deflate rather quickly after that one and a bit of that fire came out.

"Yeah, well—" Almost immediately onyx black eyes were staring down at me from above and as quickly as I had gotten worked up, my anger had diminished.

"Pride can be a good thing. Too much pride is dangerous, but you have just the right amount. I do have one problem with you being a lion though."

"And that is?" Her eyes grew dewy and an almost unnoticeable pink hue colored her pale cheeks as she looked away. "Well? Spit it out."

"I, I want to be a bird and if, if you're a lion…" I raised an eyebrow. I didn't know what she was getting at back then. How could I have possibly been so daft?

* * *

Now we were in a much different position. There was no happiness now. Al stood next to me, arm over my shoulder. I was staring at the grass. It was shriveled and dead, much like the pale girl in white lying cold in a casket made of dark cherry wood lined in white cotton material. We were under the same tree now except there were no pale, silvery wisps of hair flowing in the breeze, no quiet humming or shining bright eyes turning to greet me. The sun was hidden behind the clouds and not even the birds chirped on this sorrowful day. The only sound was Winry's quiet sobs. Today reminded me of the day we buried our mother except now Al and I were better at hiding our tears. The only evidence of our crying was the tiny tear drops on our shoes.

Soon enough she was buried, everyone had said their final words. Winry and Pinako had already headed back down towards the house. Al took a deep breath. "Brother," He was near tears again. So was I. "I, I'm going to head back towards the house. T-To give you some, some," His tears overtook his words. All I could do was grip his arm and nod, letting him know it was fine. I knew he wasn't heading towards the house. He needed alone time too. I thought every tear I could cry had already come and gone, I was wrong. We buried her facing east; I didn't realize it until the sun rose the next day. I decided to head back to Pinako's then.

Everyone was still in bed when I got back. I knew I'd never be able to sleep so I sat on the porch and watched the sunrise. It was a beautiful thing, she would've liked it. She liked things like that, simple things.

"Brother." A hand weighed on my right shoulder. I couldn't feel it but I knew it was there. I couldn't bring myself to words. "I couldn't sleep." All I could do was nod in response; I couldn't even face my own brother less possibly bring myself to tears again. He sat down on the dirty flooring next to my chair on the porch. "Remember the first day we met her?"

I did.

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Short first chapter, I don't feel too great about that but I want to start the next chapter from the beginning. Oh, and yes, I know there are probably one million grammatical errors, I'm sorry, I really suck at that. Constructive criticism is welcome and if anyone knows of a great beta that'd be really cool if you could send them my way. Thanks for reading, again, and please review (:


	2. Chapter One

My pretty little page breaks won't show up ):

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**Of Men and Birds**

~Chapter One~

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Germany, 1925

Today was a nice day in Germany, my brother and I had lost every single lead on the uranium bomb that was here on Earth but it didn't seem to stop the sun from shining and warming our backs. We were travelling in the back of a truck full of hay; Edward was lying on his back napping in the warm sun, much like a cat, while Noah was staring off into the distance. She had been exceptionally quiet as of recent. I wondered why, and had even asked once, but she never gave me an answer so I stopped trying to pry.

"Hey Al." Edward's mouth moved but his eyes never opened, I guess he wasn't asleep. I turned my head in his direction.

"Yes?"

"What time is it?" It wasn't an odd question but it felt odd. For some reason my brother, who probably wasn't wholly awake, asking for the time seemed strange.

"Why?" I should've just told him the time but I needed to know why I felt weird about him asking such a simple question. It bothered me a bit, I guess.

"Because I want to get back before it gets too late." Simple enough answer but it still wasn't good enough.

"Uh, why?" This feeling was like a nonexistent itch in my chest or a ghost pinching the back of my neck. Why was it so important that we get back to Munich at a reasonable hour?

"Does it matter?" He laughed a bit. "C'mon Al, tell me the time so I can go back to sleep." I sighed with resignation, if he didn't want me to know, I wouldn't know. It finally dawned on me; he had something planned for tonight. He had been forcing himself to sleep the majority of the day, whether he was tired or not. He had been reading a lot as well. The books looked familiar. They were beaten up, old journals our father had left us that had been tucked away in a secret compartment under the crate that held Ed's spare arms and legs. Ed hadn't discovered it until he had decided to pack up his old limbs that Hohenheim had made him and put them away in case of an emergency. The bottom of the old crate fell out and almost a dozen journals tumbled out in a flood. A part of me wanted to read those journals but Edward had told me no, not until he had finished reading them. He said it was in case there was something too personal or heart breaking in there. I guessed he meant about Mom. I didn't really want to think about it. I didn't want to spark that curiosity; I wanted to respect my brother's wishes.

"It's almost five o'clock." He nodded.

"Al, you should get some rest. We've been on the road all day." He was definitely up to something and he was planning to do it tonight and he was definitely taking me along. He wouldn't have wanted me to be well rested before bed time if he wasn't taking me. I smiled.

* * *

It was around nine o'clock when we arrived back home. We had been walking for the past five miles but after Edward's all day long nap and my few good hours of rest, the only one that was worn out was Noah. Edward new this and seemed relieved. We had finally arrived though the street seemed abandoned and quiet. Gracia had probably closed up her flower shop sometime around six and the majority of the inhabitants of the city were in their homes either in bed or about to be. The only place still wide awake was the beer hall not too far down the road. It wasn't too terribly late, after all.

Edward unlocked the door and we headed up stairs. "I'll get supper started." Noah said. She was so kind, Edward wasn't too crazy about her though, ever since she betrayed him last year but he still treated her with kindness. I could tell the way she looked at him versus the way she looked at me that, at some point, there had been an attraction there. She looked at me with joy but sometimes sorrow, Edward told me why but I had already figured it out at the funeral shortly after I had arrived here, Alfons's funeral. He was me on this side of the Gate. He died before Edward went back to Amestris to stop Eckhart. The way she looked at Edward though closely resembled the way Winry always looked at Ed and everyone knew she was smitten by him.

"I call first shower!" Ed had cried before racing upstairs. I sighed and just resigned myself to watching Noah cook.

"You two are planning something." She said after the sound of the water running in the upstairs bathroom could be heard. She was intuitive and clairvoyant, how could we expect her not to find out whatever it was Ed was planning.

"I-I don't know what you mean." I stammered.

"Alphonse, you know what I'm talking about. You should be better at lying by now." She was teasing me, she knew we were up to something, but she didn't know what. By her asking me, thinking I knew what Edward was planning she had, thankfully, not used her gift on either of us to find out. I suppose if I had a gift like that and had betrayed one of my only friends with it, I wouldn't use it again, unless it was necessary.

"Fortunately, I haven't picked up every one of my brother's bad habits yet." I joked back; I didn't want her to think that we were actually up to something, even if I had no idea what it was.

"I want to go too." She stared down at the pot of stew she was stirring with a sort of abandonment and longing. She knew that if Edward didn't share his plans with her by now, that he and I were going alone. It wouldn't have been the first time we up and dumped her by herself for our own short adventure. Any time anything even remotely dangerous came around she had to stay back and Brother and I would leave in secret, usually by night while she was asleep. We always came back though, at least this time she would be home and not left alone in some unknown city in a hotel with hardly any money.

That struck a chord in me. I hadn't really thought about it much since we lost all of our leads on the bomb but back home, back in Amestris when Edward and I were chasing after the Philosopher's Stone, even if the trail went cold we kept on searching. This felt like Edward was giving up on finding the bomb, the second the trail went cold we came home. Giving up wasn't in Edward's vocabulary, so what _was_ he planning? Eventually the sound of running water disappeared and we all sat down to eat dinner, Noah staring at Edward with suspicion the entire meal. After dinner we all prepared for bed.

* * *

It was about three in the morning when I decided to check to see if Noah was asleep. I crept out of bed as silently as having metal limbs would allow me. I had dressed before lying down to "sleep" so that I would be already prepared and ready to go. Hopefully Al had caught my drift earlier and done the same. I grabbed a pen and paper from my night stand and scribbled a few words good bye on it to leave for Noah. I hoped she wouldn't worry too badly. I slipped out of my room and down the hall to Noah's door. It creaked open a tad; I had to pray that it didn't wake her. Peering in, her back was to the door but I could see her chocolate brown tresses sprawled across the pillow and covers. Good, she was asleep. I slipped back down the hallway to Al's room and slowly opened the door. He was asleep as well. I let out a sigh, this would be annoying.

When he woke up, he didn't do it too quietly. I suppose waking up with a hand covering your mouth would surprise anyone but it had to be done. "Al," I whispered. "Time to go." He nodded in understanding. I removed my hand from his mouth and we snuck downstairs and out the door. Outside I felt eyes on me. It felt like someone was staring straight through me. I turned to look back at the house and saw nothing. I looked around me; no one. The town was dead silent.

"Ready?" I nodded in response and we headed down the road. "So, this must be big if we had to take Noah all the way back to Munich. What's going on?" I felt a little guilty for not telling him. I felt guilty for not letting him read Hohenheim's journals. I felt guilty for not allowing him the same knowledge I had. When the bottom of the crate broke and those journals fell out I knew they were for me. It took me almost a half year to read through all eleven of them and in them there was knowledge I never thought I'd know. There were things in there that even the Gate didn't show me. I didn't know how Hohenheim knew these things but he did and I wasn't going to ask questions because, even as much as I told Al that this was our home now, it never was and never could've been. We didn't belong here and, I think, I was trying to convince myself that this was home almost as much as I was trying to convince Al. But in those journals was a way back. In those journals was a way to cheat the Gate and go back home, go back to Amestris.

"We're going home, Al. We're going home." He looked shocked but then smiled. The rest of our walk was full of questions and answers. I had told him about what was in the journals and promised he could read them once we got back.

"So we've got just the clothes on our backs and a suitcase packed with Hohenheim's journals." I nodded. We had all we needed with us. We had each other.

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Amestris, 1919

The month was April but it was cold. Snow covered the ground and the wind was bitterly cold. I had seen pictures of grass as green as emeralds with flowers in an array of colors growing in random patches on the ground with butterflies all around them. My mother had showed me those pictures when I was a child. She told me about how the weather was wonderful during the spring in the country south of our own but here in Drachma it was always cold, always frigid and always snowing. I wish that, just once, I could travel to Amestris and feel the warm grass and smell the beautiful flowers but that would probably never happen.

I shook my head in defeat. It really never would. Drachma and Amestris were always in and out of war and the shaky non-violence pact our two countries had agreed upon was being greatly threatened. Word is that once Amestris puts a new Fuhrer in place that he would be coming here to try and work things out. But that was gossip and it was hardly ever true.

"Zaria!" The yelling voice from behind me brought me back to reality. "Zaria! Zaria! Come see! Come see!" I turned around and let out a puff of hot air. In the distance I could see the neighbor's daughter running towards me as fast as her legs could carry her, her brown curls peeking out of the hood over her head and bouncing around. That's when I noticed it; the wind and snow had stopped completely. It hadn't died down and slowly came to an end, it had stopped completely and utterly in a single instant.

"What is it Sveta?" I called back, nearly shouting due to how far away she still was.

"Follow me!" She waved her arm and motioned for me to follow. I ran after her for almost ten minutes before we finally stopped. Everyone in the small little village was standing in one huge group all staring at a space on the horizon. I directed my gaze as well.

On the horizon there were lights, bright and blue. The shot all around, cracking and popping like thunder. The light shook the ground beneath us, some fell and others didn't. All we could do was stare at the skyline. The lights shot straight through to the sky suddenly with a loud boom and lit the blue sky up with a bright violet hue. I looked away for a moment to look around the crowd for a moment. You couldn't necessarily see it on their faces, but you could feel it in their eyes. Not a single person that was observing the display, that couldn't have been any further than a few miles, was terrified. The only reason no one had yet to run away and gather their things to leave was because we were all, literally, scared stiff. When I had noticed a few people beginning to back away is when I looked back to the horizon. The lights were dying down and the second they stopped is the same second people ran home. All I could do was stand there and wonder. I looked back and forth between the town and the horizon. If we weren't under attack by tomorrow morning, I promised myself I would go find the source of the alchemic light.

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There you go, chapter two. Specially thanks to Arkxy-chan and Firefly264. In case anyone is wondering, the two names I used are German (according to Google.) Also, I will advise that there might be a few things a little off but I'm doing my best to keep everything as accurate with the 2003 anime and the movie CoS as possible. I will also say, some things will be pulled from the manga but not too much. For the most part I'm gonna stick with the first anime though.

Don't forget that I don't own anything that isn't obviously original and that you should review because I will probably lose hope that anyone will actually read and like this fic if you don't let me know somehow and I'm really enjoying writing this so please leave me feedback. Like how this story looks so much better in Microsoft Word _

Oh! And did you know that Amestris is six years behind Earth?

Because I didn't.


	3. Chapter Two

Thank you Annie Dawn for your review! You made a great point and I'm gonna try my best. Some things will still be a tad confusing but that's for plot line reasons. Also, thank you to everyone who's viewed, read, favorited and followed Of Men and Birds!

...

**Of Men and Birds**

Chapter Two

...

Drachma, 1919

Day break had taken forever to get here. All night the townsfolk anxiously awaited an onslaught of metal soldiers to attack. Ever since the happenings in Amestris almost two years ago, the entire country had been on high alert of any suspicious alchemic happenings, especially near our borders. Though I'm sure our government knew what had happened, the people of this tiny village did not. Alchemy wasn't forbidden in the tiny town; however it was frowned upon and found taboo. The people here liked their quiet, simple lives and were very much so capable of building the things they needed on their own. They didn't need alchemy in their lives, nor did they want it.

I let out a small sigh, it was about time I got up and went to investigate what had happened on the horizon yesterday evening. I wrapped myself in the blankets and rolled clumsily out of bed. After dressing, making my father's lunch and grabbing a quick bite to eat myself, I was well on my way. Passing through town I had the unwanted privilege of hearing the local gossip. Some people thought someone in town was practicing alchemy, some thought we were under attack from Amestris, and other believed that aliens were to blame. Out of all the silly accusations one stuck me like a thorn.

"It had to be her father. He's the only one that knows alchemy. Probably trying to turn lead into gold, the old fool." The two women were staring right at me and their whispers weren't nearly hushed enough. I slowly turned my head to look at them and they went quiet. I hated it when the townspeople talked like that. Majority of the time it involved my tiny family. They had no reason to gossip about an alchemist and his deceased wife. They had no place to slander my mother and father. It was partially true though, our family was not one of wealth. There was no money in alchemy in Drachma unless you were military. I once asked my mother why my father had left the Drachman army. Her answer was simple, "Time is greater than money." He had left for her and for me. He was a good man, a poor man, but a good man none the less. He would never break the law for a bit of gold.

I fastened my pace and made it to the edge of town to the sawmill where my father worked. It wasn't much to look at, just a small open building made of four large posts more than twelve feet high and a tin roof. I could immediately spot my father. His snow white hair and skin and deep set green eyes. He was dirty and covered in sweat. I ran to him, "Papa!"

"Zaria, what are you doing here?" He was smiling but he had a concerning tone to his voice.

"I brought you lunch." I wanted to tell him where I was going but I knew he would strongly disapprove. He wouldn't be home until very late at night. He would never know I was going off to ease my curiosity. He nodded a thanks and smiled, a twinkle in his eye. Did he know?

"Run along, I'm sure you've got things to do." He still had that eerie, knowledgeable smile. If he knew, he didn't mind. If he didn't know, I was being paranoid. Either way, I was in the clear. A quick peck on the forehead from him and I was off again.

...

Everything was blurry, white and cold. My eyes were much too out of focus to pick up on anything distinct in my surrounding area. I crawled on my knees in a sorry attempt to find Alphonse. I wasn't sure where we were or even if we made it through the gate but I had to hope for the best. I had to hope that we had made it through. Crawling like a small child, I tried to absorb what little bit of my surroundings I could. The ground beneath my hands was cold, freezing, and powdery, like snow. I looked around with cloudy, unfocused vision in search of my brother's dark coat. I spotted something, a dark brown splotch a couple yards away.

Please be alive.

I slowly made my way on hands and knees to the dark patch in the snow. "Al, Al!" The bundle of material stirred and rolled over to reveal grey eyes and brown hair. "Al!" A quick embrace was all I could do when he sat up and smiled.

"We made it Brother! We made it!" He cried out with joy. A hard lump formed in my throat and salty tears pricked at my eyes.

"We did. We're finally home, Al. We're finally home." I choked out before a hard sob shook my body. We were home, back in our world, together and in perfect health. The tears were full of joy. I had never really cried for joy but here I was, hugging my brother as tightly as I could, sobbing because I had never been this happy before. Finally, everything was right.

A few minutes had passed before I could pull myself together enough to stand. My vision had cleared a bit but not too much. Anything further than a few feet away was a fuzzy blur of colors. I chocked it up to being no more than the snow messing with my eyes. "All in one piece?"

Al nodded with a smile. "Which way?" I paused and looked up at the sky, looking at the sun's position it couldn't have been too long after daybreak, probably around seven. We were in a snowy region, probably near the border between Amestris and Drachma. I hoped we were in Amestris; the people of Drachma weren't exactly the friendliest of persons. We needed to head south, and in that direction is exactly where we headed. I had a feeling we had a long walk ahead of us.

"We're headed south; hopefully we're in Amestris but no promises. I don't know how long of a walk it'll be. You up for it?" Al nodded and so we began trudging through thick, powdery snow.

...

The walk was a long one, through the thick forest full of pine trees surrounding our tiny town and through the heavy snow in the clearing after it, but the horizon wasn't too far out of sight, only a few more yards until I would reach the top of the hill. It wouldn't be too much longer now until my curiosity was finally satiated. I broke out into as much as a sprint as I could manage through the snow and up the hill. Being on top of the hill felt much like being on top of the world, behind me I could see over the tall pines and make out clouds of warm smoke coming from the town. In front of me the hill was steep and I could make out the frozen lake and a second tree line that was left mostly untouched by the loggers but no signs of where the lights had come from the previous night. I plopped down on the hill and stared in disappointment at the tree line in the distance. "Well that was a waste." I pulled my fox fur gloves off and felt the snow and reminisced on something my mother had told me about once.

She used to tell me stories about how she met my father. He fascinated her with his alchemy, which was much different than Xing's version of alchemy, alkahestry. Alkahestry is centered on a concept referred to as the "Dragon's Pulse" which speaks of the Earth as having a constant flow of life energy that metaphorically flows through it instead of being based off the energy of tectonic shifts. My father said I hadn't a hand for alchemy and that he had tried to teach it to me at a young age, but that I had more of my mother in me than he thought. She had taught me the basics of alkahestry but she didn't know much more than the basics. I let out a heavy sigh. Alkahestry hadn't much uses. I wasn't a healer, nor was I a hunter so I hadn't used it too terribly often. Oh well. I stood and patted the snow off my backside and legs when I noticed something in the distance. The tree line was moving. I squinted in a failed attempt to see better. Two dark figures were moving closer to the hill. Were those people? I waited a bit but it wasn't long until my curiosity, once again, got the better of me and took a slow, cautious step onto the steep slope of the hill.

I reached the bottom rather ungraciously, sliding on my butt half way down the hill. I could make out two people on the other side of the frozen lake. "Hey!" I cried out, waving my arms above my head. "Watch out! The ice gets thin in the center!" I yelled as loudly as I could and noticed as a blonde headed person looked in my direction.

"Hey!" They called back. At least they were friendly, probably hunters that ventured too far south and gotten lost. The two people rushed forward onto the frozen lake. They were halfway across when the ice cracked. I couldn't cry out for them to be cautious quick enough when one fell through the thinning ice. I was frozen in horror for a moment before adrenaline rushed my body. My legs were swiftly carrying me forward towards the pair before my brain recognized what I was doing. The reasonable part of me stopped short of the center of the cracked ice. I slowed to a steady pace, gradually sliding my feet forward, feeling the ice beneath me. A blonde haired young man looked up at me. He had managed to pull his companion out of the freezing water but the ice was still cracking. "Help!" He cried out to me. I rushed to him as carefully as I could and aided him in pulling his brunette friend off the ice and to relative safety.

The bit of adrenaline that had compelled me to help had drained out quickly as I stared at the pair. One shaking violently the other shaking with worry, I had to do something. "I-I'll get help!" My father was going to kill me.

I rushed as quickly as I could up the steep hill, which felt more like a mountain now, and let my legs carry me down the other side and through the woods to the sawmill. "Papa!" I screamed with what little breath I had left. The sound was hoarse and rough, but loud. "Papa!" I cried out again. Seconds later his tall, burley figure was rushing towards me and without a moment's hesitation I was running back to where I had just come from, my father on my heels. We reached the pair much quicker than expected. My father's jaw dropped at the two young men, one soaked to the bone and shaking.

"Zaria, we must get him to the house. I'll carry him, rush home and prepare the fire." I nodded and again dragged my tired, aching legs up the steep hill and to the town. Not too far behind me was my father carrying the brunette boy, the blonde boy right behind him wearing a face full of worry. I had just enough time to prepare a warm fire. I froze, not knowing what to do next when my father looked at me with serious eyes. "Heat some bricks; we must get the boy warm." I nodded and began my task. The blonde headed boy looked at my father with worry.

"Where's the closest doctor?" My father turned to him after setting the brunette down on his bed and wrapping him tightly in the blankets.

"The closest doctor is forty miles east and isn't due to visit the town for another week." The blonde's face fell but he nodded. Soon enough the bricks were done heating and I rushed to place them carefully at the end of the bed to help heat it. My father gave me another command the second I was done, grab a bottle of his prized moonshine from the cabinet and bring it to him. I did just that.

"What is getting drunk going to do?" He shook his head with a chuckle.

"Darling, it might not be a good medicine but it'll warm his insides and help him sleep." I nodded, feeling foolish and embarrassed. "I trust you to look after the boy; I have to get back to the mill. You'll be alright, won't you?" I nodded and my father left shortly after that.

I filled a glass a quarter full of my father's moonshine and held it to the brunette's lips. "Drink it. You'll feel better." He obliged but hissed at the strength of the liquor.

"Potent." He croaked. I couldn't help but laugh a tad.

"So what's your name?" I asked, might as well get to know the two.

"His name's Alphonse, Al for short. I'm Edward." The blonde answered from behind me. I nodded and smiled. "And you are?"

"Zaria Vicci." I tucked Al in and felt his forehead for any sign of fever. "So where are you two from?" I asked, trying to make small talk.

"Uh…" Edward paused and cleared his throat. "We're from the south." A surge of excitement ran through me, there was scarcely anything south of our town with the exception of a few military outposts, they were Amestrian!

"You're from Amestris?" I tried to keep my excitement from my voice. The blonde nodded slowly, looking almost nervous. "Well that's great! My mother and father once traveled through Amestris! They said it was a lovely country. What were you two doing so far from home?"

Edward looked a tad shocked but choked out, "We, uh, got lost while traveling the world."

I didn't quite believe him but I didn't want to press. The two boys seemed very nice, no real need to question them endlessly, though I desperately wanted to.

...

Well, there it is. I was going to keep going but I think this chapter's good where it's at. I apologize for my, like, weeklong desertion. I've had a ton of stuff going on as of late, not to mention a serious case of writer's block.

So, the original plan was to make Zaria sort of a wall flower but I can NOT write a character that has hardly any personality, it would make the story very once sided. I do well with big personalities but I'm trying to make her a bit more simplistic, childlike and innocent. I'm trying, okay?

I'm rambling, so I'll wrap this up. Thank you all so much for reading and I greatly appreciate reviews. If you have any questions whatsoever, as long as you don't ask for spoilers, pm me and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can. I don't check my pms as much as I probably should.

Thanks for reading!


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